TRINH TRAN THAI DUY
HUMANS OF
SAIGON 2017
HUMANS OF
SAIGON
Preface Before taking these pictures, I was stuck with the ideas of making great images without repeating the same topics that previous students took on. However, when I saw Robert Anderson - a freelance photographer’s showcases of beautiful and unique portraits of Vietnamese people, I realised that when it comes to photography, the end results are what matter, what define your originality, sometimes how unoriginal your topics might be. After the final decision of taking portraits of humans in Saigon, I planed a list of districts to begin my work.
Images by Robert Anderson, 2015
Inspiration Robert Andrew Anderson is a freelance photographer, who tends to work on candid portraiture. His works feature various styles, but I especially got hooked on his B&W works. The way he approaches subjects is very quick and exact, therefore people who were featured in the pictures all seemed very natural, unforced. Sometimes, to take a very close portrait, he had to use a long distance lens to perform it without people’s attention. This will avoid the look of subjects straight towards the lens. He also took his chance with unconscious subjects, like when they were sleeping or when he were standing behind them. I made use of these techniques as much as I could while taking my photos.
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the idea I decided to follow with the photography style of candid portraiture in black and white. Thus, I wrote down the list of each district to go to for people and their daily activities. To fully capture certain sides of their personalities via every single elements picture were my main purposes to begin with. If people could look, understand and sympathize with any person inside my pictures, I’d proudly call that a success. More than that, I became strangely energetic and happy whenever I was on the outlook for new subjects such as: new people, angles and spaces.
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Technical Details My photos were all taken by a Canon 700D with its kit lens (18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM). I found it difficult to take photos from long distances as well as to make blurry background, and that would have helped emphasizing the main subjects more specifically. Thankfully, I got a very useful tip from my friend, and that was to utilize the lens between its 33-38mm focal length. I also had to make sure that people in the photo were acting naturally. Before taking the pictures, I asked them to continue doing whatever they were doing and to not pay any attention to the camera. My shutter speed were set from 1/60 to 1/200 and the ISO were set from 100 to 800, which depended on the natural brightness of the environment.
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XICH-LO DRIVERS
social charity It happened in District 5, when a charity group was in the middle of giving lunch to people who lived in the neighborhood. People stood one by one in order to receive their meals. Some were simply curious onlookers...
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CHESS PLAYING I passed by a small shop that provided a dedicated area with chess sets for people to play together.
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hair cutting The hairdresser turned his back on me whenever I wanted to capture his face. It was tough, but fun.
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around the church A mentally unstable old man who was sitting next to the barriers of the church. His emotion changed very fast when he saw different people around him.
Kids playing with their bicycles. They were very cute and friendly. I hope I could meet them again.
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the seamstress
a milktea cart
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HUMANS OF
SAIGON
humans of saigon